I feel that the changes made have been an overall improvement, however, it doesn't exempt the growing issues around the under-performing gear sets. To my knowledge being big on PVE, slowly rolling into PvP, and more so seamless PvE/PvP -- not focused on either or, but dealing with w/e comes my way, the line between Creative and Useful need to be close to non-existent.

I have some pretty creative builds. Like an Alpha2/Nomad4 build. Being able to 1-4 man PvE CM. It's a Self Sustaining Tank build which takes on the aggro of as many NPC's as possible, but is far more mobile then that of a Ballistic Shield user. Using TrapperSC/OverdoseFAid, STA, Armor, and FA (in that order of priority), along with a lot of Healing Weapon Talents makes it a very efficient build. Not only can it deal the damage, and keep itself alive, but it can also assist with its support's damage via nerfing the enemies, and acts as a Mobile Road Block. Pretty fun stuff! Though it can also be more utility focusing on electronics than on FA.

But for Reclaimer losing all of its crowd control features, made it a dead set, along with other issues. It used to be a frequently sought for gear set in PvP and PvE, now the set lost its spark. Give the Crowd control back! Also, just remove it vs other players?

Dead EyE, in PvE, is a pretty boring set as well, considering that Hunter's Faith/Strikers/Sentry's Call/Alpha Bridge/Predator's Mark don't smother the NPCs, before your low output of damage reaches them. I have made a pure damage Dead EyE build -- it isn't efficient at all. I could hybridize the set, but then again doing-so, will only lead you to the conclusion -- to use another set instead, to get max potential for such a build. Same thing goes when it comes to being on a squad. Dead EyE is Dead....

Final Measure, took it's final measure this patch. There is no real reason to where the 4 piece. The 2 piece is as good as it gets for this gear set. I would recommend as many others have, to give the four piece the ability to diffuse any set of explosives that land within a specific range, no cool down on amounts, thrown. I mean hell, seeing a final measure build vs a sticky bomb build would be hilarious. causing sticky user to place their stickies differently.

Banshee -- Strictly (DZ) - Not too much enjoyment in other areas. Can't wait for more sets similar to this one.

Some of the problems with the sets are partially due to the ability cooldown changes, but since that's not what this survey was about I'll just go for Tactician's Authority which was ruined from every angle.

It currently drops off after 10 seconds of being at full or of not doing damage which ruins any real advantage the set brings (especially to pve). The set cannot be effectively used solo anymore, and has big problems in general due to being based on number of bullets landing rather than damage done. This means slower rof/dmr type weapons essentially cannot be used at all. Soloing makes stacking the set virtually impossible due to the complete drop offs.

There are a couple of suggestions I have regarding ways to change it. My preferred fix would be to go back to the old style of buff while lowering the maximum buff to 30%, changing the gain to 1% per 100k damage and a drop off of 2% per second. This would end up with a permanent buff during combat which I believe is what Massive was trying to prevent, however I'm not convinced a permanent buff is a problem so long as it's not a huge number (like the old 100%).

I do not believe that having the buff stacked by the number of shots landing is the best choice due to how unfair it is regarding rate of fire, group composition and solo requirements. If Massive is dead set on having the buff drop off after having hit maximum then the two changes I would make is a duration of 30 seconds after hitting maximum or changing the buff to 50% skill power increase and the duration at maximum of 20 seconds.

Seems to be a lot more options for builds which is good, but the Armour & Specialized backpack meta isn't helping with that.
I'd drop down to WT3 but then I wouldn't get the 229 gear that I need for my 229 GS builds.
It's the same balancing "chicken in the egg" issue as you had in 1.3 but shifted away from one area onto another.

I get that World Tiers is a great way to level up but the base level of every tier should be a good starting place for development to the next gear score level within the same tier.

So whilst the gear sets in theory provide build diversity, the slightly unbalanced scaling of the tiers means that we're forced to throw away build options in favour of survivabllity and practicality in order to make a build viable. ie it's totally impractical to run with anything less than 350K toughness in WT4. Yet 229 gear sets stop offering optional diversity after 200K toughness, given two pieces specc'd into firearms. So if you want to spec three into firearms, or two firearms, one electronics, two stamina... those options are extremely limited right now given the "balance" of the game. I feel that the game was "balanced" around 5700 stamina / 400K toughness and very little else. That gives little option to invest resources into other parts of a build.

In addition to this, when you finally do release 268 GS pieces, you should initially have them as extremely rare drops so that it gives people time to slowly invest into their builds. NOT as a quick fix solution to a problem created by lack of armour and toughness. You should want to collect 268 pieces because they allow you to specialise and mature your build. So it would be useful if you could add activities that would give us a better chance of dropping gear with particular stats rolled on them. For example if I want gloves with LMG already rolled then I would simply play the daily missions using an LMG and hope for the pair of gloves to drop, and if they do they will have LMG damage already rolled on them so I can re-calibrate another stat of my choice.

Being a PVE only player I can't answer this survey... there should be an option "no answer" at the PVP related questions.

I've just noticed you have the possibility to not select any option!
I did the same with options I could not honestly answer. Just did the same with the weapons survey.

Well, reclaimer goes into the bin for me instantly, as well as tactitian. No real benefit from support roles other than a tank with the shield, and there's Sentry the better option imho.
Reclaimer is too much of a risk for the group. The unlimited water is nice, but when running with special forces directive or against cleaner, not being able to use the energy bar can be deadly. So the risk is too high for me.

As for the question if there is a set supporting my preferred play style. Nope there isn't. I've always played a damage dealing sniper. Also in other RPG games I'm going for glass cannon builds with the possibility for stealth or long distance attacks, namingly asassin type classes. At the moment there is no set supporting such play style. Sentry can be used to some extent, but as a support, not as a glass canon damage dealer anymore. Additionally it is better used as a support tank with the ballistic shield and a pistol. Snipers deal way too little damage to make them a considerable option when damage dealing. You're always better off with an assault rifle or LMG. Also to make use of the 4pcs Talent you need to use a Semi Auto DMR. The Bolt actions are too slow, so the set does not support the use of them. Hunters Faith is also better used as an armor support with an LMG to keep the armor up. Snipers can't keep the armor up like LMGs do, so again not something supporting a glass cannon sniper build. I know it has been a meta now for the longest time, but it was actually the play style I enjoy the most. At the moment nothing really supports snipers. The sets intended to do so work a lot better with other stuff.
I would love one which reduces your threat so you can neglect armor and really go for damage dealing. At the moment you're pretty much forced to roll armor on everything which kills the build diversity a bit.

Final Measure would be really interesting if it wouldn't have such a long cooldown. The way grenades are still spammed it does not really help you at all. It's not really a difference if I have to leave my cower with the first grenade or with the second if there are 5 of them coming within 5 seconds which is the case most of the time.

Except for this, the other sets are good imho and have their place. Eventually a little bit finetuning with some but I defenitely try more different builds now. Firecrest is an interesting one, as it breaks the usual idea of people using different sets to get the best out of the group. It gets really fun if all players use it with the flame turret. For solo players it's not really worth it. But I really enjoy the change with it.

Honestly hate the gear sets all together. I don't even use any of them.

I do like the idea of DarkZone specific sets though like Banshee but honestly stuff that you have on there should be in the game as a whole. Like loosing no xp and stuff when you die should be in the game. I should not need a set for that cause now you do come to the point where you feel forced to use certain stuff in certain activities. And if you are going to do specific loot make it drop in that mode. I shouldn't be getting banshee outside of darkzone as it serves you no purpose outside of Darkzone.

I have messed with DeadEYE thinking it would be fun but with the way critical damage was nerfed the set just really sucks honestly and doesn't really even help. Nor was it even fun to use. Gear sets should be team focused abilities. Like what you did with hunters faith how the armor applies to the whole team is cool. We need more of that stuff.

I don't even need to try reclaimer to know its useless now with the consumables being nerfed. Really at this point I don't even know why consumables are in the game anymore. But again I like how its for the whole team.

Nomad again still seems so pointless it triggers revive when you basically go down. But it charges every 4 min. There still no real use for this set 1 its not even a set for team play its a solo set and 2 with the new medical super receiving the new changes it make nomad useless. Nomad needs to be redesigned from the ground up all new set and new idea.

But yeah some gear sets in my opinion still really suck or were made useless like reclaimer. And also I just don't find any gear fun to use but when you have such powerful abilities locked behind gear sets you do feel forced to use them.

Personally, have always been interested in Striker set. However the 4pc bonus is so weak TBH.
Miss shot? bonus damage stacked is lowered.
Not Shooting? Bonus damage stacked is lowered.

In 1.1-1.3 i had hoped for a non-crit build/Gear set up for players who wishes to play non crit but it was never meant to be. In 1.4 PTS was hoping til the last week for Striker 4pc changes but there was none. Striker is such a weak set... 2pc bonus of 20% stability can be traded for Smart Cover. Close to 20% stability with additional accuracy and damage resilences. Far outweigh the 2pc power. 3 set bonus 10% enemy armor damage is a nice plus( I meant for non min max build where players can get up to 20% from kneepad and mask together, not to mention any player who focus on PvE will roll Destructive talent on their weapon..)

So all in all, Striker 2pc doesnt provide a "real" utility, 3pc power can be gain from other pieces easily and 4pc is... well undependable at least even with the increase of TTBK...

IMO 2 and 3 pc should get some small number buff to provide some incentives?
4pc striker changes IMO should not lose stack when Missing shots BUT still lose stack when not FIRING a shot after 5 SECONDS and lose the ability to fire a critical shot. Oh and of course the stacking limit should be lowered to 60%? or 80%, additive? OR every 20 shot hits grants a stack(5-7.5% multiplicative) , max stack is 5? In the case of using stacks, You lose a stack every 5 second when you do not hit a target.
So Striker players can be a heavy hitter when they gain momentum

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